This is what I woke up to in the morning..... Colorado plains and a fantastic sunrise!
From here, I only had about 120 miles to finish up to get to my Aunt's house in Aurora, but when I rolled into the area, I was feeling refreshed and decided to cut south to Colorado Springs and go see the Garden of the Gods instead....
I thought FlyGirl might find this one interesting.....
After leaving Colorado Springs, I headed back north to my cousin's house where my Mom was to be arriving around 3PM, and finally got a shower and relaxed. I ended up staying at my cousin's that night as well and slept like a rock!
Monday was to be the day of the service for my grand mother, so I rode up to Frederick, where an uncle lives, to try and repair my dash if I could, which was unsuccessful.... Hit up a Startbucks for a pick me up..
I was also amused at the name of this gas station...... Exactly WTF do they sell in there?
I rode to the service with my uncle, and then afterward, rode back down south again to hit up Pikes Peak and ride to the summit.... I passed through Denver on the way and also by the Mile High stadium of the Broncos...
Pikes Peak shots....
I headed back down and decided to take a pic of some of the excellent roads that are used in the Pikes Peak hill climb races! Not long after, I got my ass chewed out by a park ranger for "excessive speed". When I showed him that my instrument cluster was dead, he was not sure what to say, so he just told me to slow it the hell down!
On back to Aroura to my cousin's place, where I spent the night again....
I get up Tuesday morning and get ready to head up north to the Estes Park area, where we are all meeting to spead ashes around the Bear Lake area as per Grandma's request, and when I get out to the bike I notice a fluid leak of some type, so I am like WTF? I pulled the left hand fairing off and find a clutch slave cylinder leak, which I was able to fix pretty quick, and was on my way to Estes Park via Boulder, CO. Once you get past Boulder, you start realizing what kind of roads you are in for!
Pulled into Estes Park and was almost overwealmed by the view!
Everyone met up and we all headed to the Rocky Mountain National Park to head to Bear Lake...
My Mom on the hiking trail to Bear Lake....
All the family members in front of the final resting place.....
And the view from where we spread the ashes. I think she is happy with the spot we picked out.....
After everything was done, we headed back to Estes Park where I was to stay with my Mom in a cabin and then head out in the morning...
Wed morning, and I headed out to go up north to my birth place of Cheyenne, Wyoming......
This is the Air Force base where I was born....
After this pic op, I headed back down into Colorado to the Ft Collins area, where I hit CO 14 to start heading across the mountians towards Steamboat Springs. This turned out to be an epic ride and I ended up with over 500 miles for the day and some increadible sites!
Looks down at the GPS and see this and it's like, "Oh hell yes!"!!!!!!!
After heading across the divide on 14, I came into an open plains area in between mountian ranges. This was Walden, CO, where apparently Moose are in abundance.....
After going through Walden, I continued on 14 to 40 to head to Speamboat Springs. This was a wicked cool piece of pavement with fast sweepers and big time elevation changes! I got into Speamboat Springs and about the same time, my GPS stopped working, so I was like FACK!
This is cool because you can see the ski runs on the mountains....
I found a WalMart and bought another GPS and headed out back up 40 to Granby, where I picked up 34 to head through the National Park area.... This day saw some of the most incredible views.........
Heading into the Hot Sulpher Srings area....
Once back in the National Park area, it was breath taking....
It was also oh so temping!!!!!
Just an itty bitty wall keeping you from an over 1000' fall!
After going through the park, I got back to the cabin in Estes Park ready for a beer and the hot tub! I hung out with Mom and planned on heading out Thrusday morning to start heading south, and then back east. It's hard to even describe some of the roads I traveled, but they were absolutely a blast to ride, and the scenery was amazing!
Oh, now THIS looks interesting!
Maybe THIS is why! SWEET!
An old gold mine near Black Hawk, which is now a casino town...
After getting through Black Hawk, I hit up I-70 and headed west towards Breckenridge....
Through the tunnels....
Getting into the Breckenridge area....
More green ski slopes.....
Headed back across the divide again....
Cool shot showing the valley via reflection!
Once I got out of the mountains, I rode through Pueblo, CO, and kept on heading east. My goal for the night was Wichita, Kansas, and to start heading south on I-35 towards Oklahoma depending on how tired I was getting. My primary goal was to get within 1000 miles of Cherokee, NC, where I was to stop Friday night. Somewhere around Holly, CO, the bike started acting up in the low RPM range and sounded like it was running on one cylinder at idle, but it was fine at speed, so I keep rolling. Ultimately, I rode it this wall all the way to Cherokee, with a fuel milage drop to 40 mpg or so vice the 48 to 50 mpg I had been seeing so far. I was more interested in making miles than troublshooting, so I kept rolling until just before Oklahoma, where I found a field to lay out my sleeping mat and bag and passed out for a few hours.......
During this stint into Kansas, I was fighting 30 to 40 mph cross winds, and was litteraly riding sideways for over 400 miles! That crap wore me out big time!
Much of this.....
This guy stayed with me until dark.....
Friday morning saw an excellent morning, so I packed up, and hit the road again and soon found myself in Oklahoma...
Then Arkansas.......
Getting closer!
I finally got back to NC around 10:00 pm and headed through Pigeon Forge area, which was a huge mistake since I did not know it was a big tourist attraction. Once I got through there though, I took 441 over the mountains into Cherokee, where I finally arrived about 11:45 pm after logging over 1100 miles that day. A buddy of mine works at the KOA camp ground there and comped me a cabin for the weekend, and my wife met me there, so it was a cool arrival!
Saturday morning, I woke up to this.....
I pulled the bike into one of the camp ground garages to see if I could sort out why it was running like crap. Lifted the tank, and sure as hell, found a loose vacuum line to the stepper motor! Instant cure! :cheers2: That was the point where Mark and I decided to go riding!
Yeah, I know. You are thinking, "Katana?" That guy embarrasses the majority of sport bike guys with that bike though, so don't be fooled!
Mark took me on one of his "secret" loops which was excellent! I had never riden those roads before and had a blast!
Yeah, I have been on this one before!
Back to Cherokee for the evening.....
Good food, good friends, great roads, and a fantastic wife. What more can a guy ask????
Sunday morning, I packed up for the finish of the trip and planned on heading down to Bryson and picking up 28 south all the way to Anderson, SC, which is close to where my Dad lives...
Bridal Falls......
Entering Highlands......
If you have never riden 28 south to Warwoman road, you are missing out! DO IT!
Crossing into Georgia....
and into South Carolina.....
and finally into Anderson County, which is where Donna and I are both from.....
In front of the High School I graduated from, in Williamston, SC....
I visited my Dad for a short time, and hit the road again to finish up and make it home. Unfortunately, the bike had other plans.......
Gaffney, SC. I always use the peach water tower as a land mark.....
My final fuel stop, in Gaffney. It was here that the bike decided "no more". No electrical power at all. I jumped it off with the help from a friendly motorist, but as soon as I disconnected the cables, it would die again. Well, crap. 140 miles to go, and the bike gives up. That sucks......
I called the wife and found that she was about an hour away, so she detoured over and picked me up. I was pretty dissapointed in finishing this way, but it is what it is. I later found out that the battery had decided at that point to have a melt down. That's it. Just the battery....
This was, to me, and absolutely epic trip with milage goals getting there and only a couple goals once there, but just the opportunity to go see sites as they happen. Would I do it again? Damn right I would!
Total miles riden- 4682
Total spent on gas- $301.52
Total gallons used- 113.57
States riden through....
North Carolina
Tennessee (twice)
Kentucky
Illinios
Missouri
Kansas (twice)
Colorado
Wyoming
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Georgia
South Carolina
